A small number of Ayr Seaforth athletes from the Road Race section took part in last weekends Girvan Half Marathon which also doubled up as the Ayrshire Half Marathon Championship. There were several notable results including the first male & female athletes home. Full results are shown in the table below:-

This years Land O’Burns 10k took place last night in near perfect conditions. The event was sponsored by Troon based CCL logistics company and was started by CEO Callum Bastock. The race was won by U20 athlete Fraser Stirling of Ayr Seaforth in a time of 34:20, he was followed home by Euan Webster (Sen M) of Aberdeen AC 35:05 and Kieran Cooper (U20) Unattached in 36:26. The first female home was Julie Beveridge (Sen F) Calderglen Harriers in 42:08 followed by Valerie Martin (V40) Dooleys Cycles in 44:15 and Beth Macrae (U20) Unattached in 44:35. Full results can be found HERE

Congratulations go to Mark Caldwell who completed the Double Cateran Ultra 110 miler today in a time of 23hrs36m50s which gave him 3rd place. The race takes place over a 55 mile loop starting and finishing in Glen Shee and has a maximum time limit of 30 hours. Also running in the Cateran 55 mile Ultra was James Murray who completed the loop in 13hrs11m33s which placed James in 64th.

Well done to both of these ultra runners from everyone at Ayr Seaforth.

The Hoka Highland Fling is a 53 mile trail race which takes place every year in April. The route follows the West Highland Way, Scotland’s oldest official long distance footpath, through the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. There is a 15hr time limit placed on participants and this years race saw 625 finishers. This year both the male and female records were broken with Donnie Campbell setting a new mens record of 6hrs51.06 and Beth Pascall setting a womens record of 7hrs52.55.

There were 3 Seaforth athletes taking part this year with Mark Caldwell claiming the Masters category Bronze medal in a time of 9hrs00.03 for 41st place overall, Andrew Crichton was 112nd in 10hrs01.07 and Davie Jones in his debut Ultra Marathon was 252nd in a time of 11hrs18.23.

On Wednesday 20th April Ayr Seaforth seniors Stuart McColm, Iain Pettigrew and James Pettigrew took part in the Kaim Hill fell race over a distance of 5.5Km. The race started in Fairlie and after a short section on the road the punishing 1250 ft ascent through mud and gorse began. James finished 29th out of 105 runners, Iain was 70th and fell debutante Stuart was 79th. The most important statistic for a fell runner is their percentage relative to the winner’s time and James competed the race in 37 minutes 41 seconds which was 31% greater than the winner. Iain’s time of 44 minutes 59 seconds was 57% greater and Stuart was 74% greater with a time of 50 minutes and 41 seconds.

Saturday saw this years National Junior Road Race Championships take place once again at Battery Park, Greenock. A much smaller contingent than that in recent years from Seaforth took part but there were still medals won on the day.

In the U13 boys race over 2.5km Alex Crooks was 43rd in a time of 9.32 with Blair Gemmell in 71st with a time of 11.04.

The U13 girls ran over the same 2.5km course and had the result of the day with the team winning the team silver medal. First home was Morven Hubbard in 7th place in a time of 9.13 followed by Evie Mackay (13th) 9.27 and Rosie Davidson (16th) 9.38.

Logan Cotter was the sole representative in the older age groups competing in the U15 boys 4.2km race finishing in 45th place with a time of 16.27.

National Junior Road Race Championships 2016

The annual Anglo Celtic Plate 100k ultra race was held at North Inches Park, Perth on Sunday 27 March. The race distance is 100k (62.2 miles) and takes place over a 2.381k course which runs on the banks of the River Tay.

The race itself is a home countries international contested between teams from Scotland, England, Ireland & Wales but is also open to other entrants. Representing Ayr Seaforth this year was Laurence Baker who ran in the over 50 section and was placed 16th overall with a time of 9:51.50. A big well done from all at Seaforth.

Seventeen members of Ayr Seaforths Road Racing section ran at the Alloa Half Marathon with many of these athletes using this race as part of their training for the upcoming marathons at London and Liverpool. The big hills near the end of the race did not stop six of the group from obtaining personal bests, in particular Scott McIntosh who managed to beat his pb by a massive five minutes. Well done to all the runners!

The Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon took place on Sunday 13 March in what can be described as very mild conditions. The race itself starts at Loch Lomond and after a 3 mile stretch along the River Leven winds its way through Renton, Dumbarton, Milton and Bowling before finishing in Clydebank. Seaforth had 3 runners in the 386 who finished and the results for the Ayr runners are shown below:-